What’s missing? 

I m a g i n a t i o n ! 

     I recently saw a beautiful old brick school building in Connecticut, white columns in front, lots of fresh-cut grss outdoor playspace, and in seemingly good repair.  It was empty.  It had been empty, it turns out, for a few years!  Apparently no one has been able to think of the property as anything but a school.

     A huge, upscale corporate center I visited last week in Annapolis, anchored by an ultra high-class (tuxedo-clad lobby employees) hotel, a worldclass famous restaurant, and a massive street-level storefront space, long empty. 

     [Adjacent to all this, by the way, is a millionaire’s condo building with an over-the-top fountain courtyard and fancy sales office signs (because there are so many units unfilled) that led me to the basement garage, then to a brick wall.  Even if I wanted to scarf up a unit for cash, I would never have found the place to pay!  (Maybe you’re supposed to just leave a check next to the wall?)] 

     I went to a restaurant in Delaware last night in a beautiful waterfront location . . . umbrella-spiked outdoor cafe tables overlooking moonglow-shimmering ripples that splash softly against the rocks nearby.  The worst, deep-fried fastfood meals your stomach would ever want to see, taste or touch.  Thankfully, I was in great company.

     What’s missing from all these places?  Imagination.  How hard is it to market the school as a restaurant, or small shopping mall — antiques?  crafts? — or a fitness facility, a manufacturing operation, even a potentially remarkable B&B?

     Hey, Annapolis is Annapolis, but that outstanding space would make a great art gallery, office center, even a still-viable incubation facility for entrepreneurial development — remember those?

     The waterfront restaurant?  Jeeze, ANYthing with decent food –plain OR fancy– would be a major improvement, and make a ton of money!

     It really doesn’t take a nuclear science degree to make better use of spaces like these.  It takes imagination.  Come back to visit again this week, and you’ll get some FREE first hand, front line coaching.  Maybe I should have gone into real estate development?  Well, not just now.  Maybe AFTER the election?        halalpiar